


i'll take care that no illusions shatter

by cherrylouvol6



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Girl Direction, Girl Direction Winter Fic Fest, Meet-Cute, Shy Lesbians, oh to gently moisturise the skin of a stranger, set in some alternate 2020 in which we're still allowed to touch strangers, the end is so cheesy oh my god, the excruciatingly awkward intimacy of lush arm massages, the experience of working retail at christmas is unrealistically romanticised, they do say write what you know, to plagiarise a tumblr commenter this fic is dedicated to touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27696206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrylouvol6/pseuds/cherrylouvol6
Summary: It was easy enough for Liam, Louis privately thought. He had years of experience to season him, and his naturally outgoing and tactile personality gave him an unfair advantage. There was no way he’d ever spent a solid five minutes giving himself an internal pep talk before even deciding whether or not to approach a particularly prickly-looking customer with a tub of Sleepy body lotion and a smile.Or, the Lush AU in which Louis has no choice but to give an intimidatingly beautiful stranger an arm massage.Written for the Girl Direction Winter Fic Fest 2020.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 12
Kudos: 71
Collections: Girl Direction Winter Fic Fest





	i'll take care that no illusions shatter

In the two weeks that Louis had been in training, she’d quickly identified her strengths and weaknesses when it came to Lush’s signature offerings. Selling bath bombs she could do. Recommending skincare, getting there. Rattling off information about ingredients, couldn’t be more comfortable.

It was just the arm massages that she couldn’t handle.

Something about the proximity to a stranger, the awkward silences, never knowing if she was supposed to make eye contact or not, the way she could always tell when they didn’t really _want_ to be touched, had her preemptively ducking right out of any interaction that could potentially warrant a demo.

It had worked pretty well for her so far.

Except her supervisor, Liam, had noticed. And had therefore assigned her the frankly _terrifying_ personal goal of doing at least three demos in her five-hour shift.

It was easy enough for Liam, Louis privately thought. He had years of experience to season him, and his naturally outgoing and tactile personality gave him an unfair advantage. There was no way _he’d_ ever spent a solid five minutes giving himself an internal pep talk before even deciding whether or not to approach a particularly prickly-looking customer with a tub of Sleepy body lotion and a smile.

Louis shook her head and tried to refocus herself, took a moment to rearrange some bath bomb trays that had ended up lopsided. She pointedly kept her gaze trained on them as she became aware of a shadow flickering at the open doorway.

“Hi there, welcome to Lush!” Liam’s voice drew closer as he walked out from the back room, greeting whoever it was that was hovering up near the body lotions.

Louis shut her eyes, knowing what would come next. Sure enough, she felt a palm clap onto her shoulder, Liam’s voice lowering to an encouraging whisper.

“They’re checking out the Nog. Go get them - remember: gentle but firm, and tell them three lovely things about the ingredients. I believe in you!”

Louis exhaled, then flashed Liam a half-smile and moved away from the bath table.

Finally getting a good look at the person that had just walked in, Louis’ breath caught in her chest. There, inspecting the label of a tester bottle, was maybe the most exquisite English rose she’d ever seen. Pale, delicately flushed skin, wide green eyes, thick eyebrows, tumbling chestnut curls - Louis’ own personal Aphrodite in a cord jumpsuit and a deep green turtleneck. She sent a prayer for strength up to whatever god may be listening.

She stood a safe distance from the girl and swallowed, brushing stray glitter off her plain black t-shirt. Now or never.

“Hi love, how’s your hunt going?”

The girl turned to face her, eyes wide and plush lips curling into a smile. A little dimple carved itself into her soft cheek.

“Hi! I was just looking at your lotions, a friend of mine said you have some Christmas-themed stuff in by now?”

Louis melted at the sound of her deep, molasses-smooth voice.

“Absolutely, um,” she glanced over her shoulder, noting Liam’s presence nearby. “The one you’ve got in your hand is my favourite. Would you like to try it?”

She bit her lip, hoping against hope that the girl would refuse and she would be spared the ordeal of drowning in her intoxicating presence.

Clearly, god hadn’t yet forgiven her for all the gay sex. Or the swearing.

“Oh, that would be wonderful! Thank you so much,” the girl gushed, rolling her sleeve up on one arm, holding it out palm-down.

Louis chuckled nervously, gently manoeuvring the peach-pale arm until it was flipped palm-up and the soft skin of her inner forearm was revealed to her. She reached for the bottle in the girl’s other hand and flipped the cap open.

“So this one’s called Yog Nog,” she said as casually as she could muster, squeezing a generous amount of thin pale yellow cream out. “It’s one of our Christmas staple scents along with Snow Fairy, so it comes back every year. Last year I think we had it in a body conditioner, but this year it’s a body milk.”

She flicked her eyes up from where they’d been fixed on the girl’s arm, only to be met with that intense green gaze, nodding seriously. She took in a sharp breath and averted her own eyes.

“The caramelly spiced scent is from the combination of almond milk, clove bud oil and ylang ylang,” she began gently spreading the lotion over the girl’s arm, “which is honestly such a beautiful combination and it makes you smell almost _edible_.”

Her eyes widened at the realisation of what she’d said, and determinedly kept her gaze well away from the girl’s face lest she die from embarrassment.

She started digging her thumbs in firmly, stroking up and down the skin and working the sinewy muscles with the added glide of lotion. Her heart pounded.

“Um, as you can probably tell, it sinks in really quickly, as it’s quite a lot thinner than our usual lotions, cause they've all got like, cocoa butter and that…”

Louis knew she was talking too fast. Way too fast. She needed to slow down, the poor girl was probably overwhelmed by information. It was bad enough that she was stroking her arm like it was made of some sort of fine silk.

“So, uh, how does that feel on your skin?” Louis drew her hands away awkwardly, indicating for the girl to drag her fingers over her own arm and lift it to her nose to experience the scent.

“Mmm,” the girl sighed, eyelids fluttering shut. “That’s lovely. Feels so nice, too.”

Louis was a wreck. If this girl didn’t give her a chance to escape soon, she might just fall to her knees right there.

After a tense moment, Louis felt an overwhelming sense of relief as the girl inspected the little price sign, then grabbed the biggest bottle they had.

“I’ll just take this one for today,” she grinned, handing the bottle to Louis.

Louis smiled back shakily, walked back to the counter to process the sale.

A minute later, the girl was leaving with a cheeky wink.

“That was great, Louis! Excellent demo, although you could’ve linked to some other products at the end there. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Liam exclaimed.

Louis could only nod dazedly.

“I think I’ll take my ten minute break now, Liam, if that’s alright with you,” she spoke faintly.

All ten minutes were spent hiding in the back room, trying to catch her breath and still her racing heart - and that’s when she realised, she never got the girl’s name.

. . . . .

A week later, Louis was in the middle of handing a complex haircare consultation over to someone who actually knew what they were talking about when a flash of curls at the edge of her vision caught her attention.

“So…like I said, I’ll let Lauren here take care of you. Thanks Lauren,” she said, a little distractedly.

Freed from her customers, she drifted over to the mass of tumbling curls at the fresh table, faced away from her. Right before she was about to engage, she felt a hand at her elbow. Liam.

“You’re taking this one? Ok, remember your demos - we’re not too busy today, so if they want, you should do a full face, alright?” he whispered before taking off.

Louis took a deep breath. Touching that girl’s arm was one thing, but touching her _face?_ She willed herself to calm down. It might not even be the same girl. No reason to get nervous just yet.

“How are we going with it all over here?” she said cheerily, sidling up to the customer, hand resting casually on the table of fresh face masks nestled in ice.

Of course it was her. Of _course_.

Those deep verdant eyes sparkled in recognition as the girl turned to face her.

“Oh, it’s you! Hi again! I don’t know if you remember me, but you helped me with the lotions last week. Thank you,” she said slowly but earnestly, voice somehow even more syrupy rich than Louis remembered.

“I remember,” Louis replies, wincing internally at how her own voice scraped roughly over the syllables. “M’Louis, by the way.”

“Harry.”

Louis grinned, then turned to gesture at the table.

“You after one of these today? Planning a little self-care night?”

Harry nodded. “I haven’t done a face mask since I was about fifteen, me and my school mates bought some of those awful paper ones from Boots that give you acne. Figured since I liked the Yog Nog so much, maybe you’d be able to help me choose something here that will actually help my skin?”

Louis nodded, but internally she wondered how you could possibly improve on perfection.

“Um, your skin actually looks pretty- pretty good to me, but are you having any problems with it specifically?”

Harry shook her head.

Louis breathed out to try and calm herself.

“In that case, maybe the Oatifix? It won’t upset the balance of your skin, but it’ll leave you softened and moisturised,” she suggested. “We could even try it out right here if you like?”

Harry’s dimple popped out as she nodded enthusiastically. “Please.”

Louis took a deep breath and pulled out a nearby stool at a demo station, checked that the bowl of water on the table was still fresh and warm. She gestured for Harry to take a seat, bowing exaggeratedly, and the girl perched herself on it with a giggle and all the grace of a bumbling adolescent princess-in-training. A burst of warmth filled Louis’ chest at the sight.

As she grabbed the tester mask, she took the opportunity to sneakily drag her eyes over the girl’s seated figure. Today’s outfit was decidedly Christmassy in the most endearing way: bright red cropped jumper and dark green high-waisted pants, with the gaudiest little cardigan layered on top - dark knit with felt appliqués of Christmas trees, candy canes and elves all over. It looked like she’d dug it out of her mother’s old forgotten trunk of 80s memorabilia, or perhaps she’d trawled through a tiny village Oxfam to find it. Either way, it couldn’t have looked better on anyone else.

Taking her place a polite distance in front of Harry’s spread thighs, Louis held her breath as she raised a hand to brush an errant curl from her forehead.

“This might be a little cold,” she warned, dipping her fingers into the bowl.

Harry’s eyelids fluttered shut as Louis tentatively leaned in close to smear the first glob over Harry’s delicate porcelain skin. She spread the mixture lightly over her forehead, almost terrified to touch. The corners of Harry’s mouth twisted up into a little smirk.

“You can go a little harder. I won’t break if you touch me,” she murmured.

Louis nearly keeled over, but somehow managed to keep herself together.

“Um- this- this one’s got like, oatmeal and illipe butter that will soften and moisturise your skin,” Louis choked out. “Almonds for exfoliation. And fresh organic bananas.”

Harry’s eyes flew open.

“Bananas?” she said incredulously.

Louis grinned, still painting her pale face like a living canvas.

“Yes, bananas. They’re quite nourishing,” she said, raising her eyebrows knowingly.

Harry’s grin widened and she closed her eyes again. “I love bananas.”

Once her whole face had a layer of mask, Louis pulled away and tapped Harry’s shoulder to indicate she was done. Catching a glimpse of herself in the little oval mirror, Harry giggled.

Liam’s voice cut in from across the shop floor.

“Lou, when you’ve got a moment would you pop this lovely through the till for me? Thanks!”

Louis flashed him a thumbs up, then turned back to Harry.

“How long do I keep it on?” she asked, making eye contact with Louis through the reflection.

“A few minutes, normally about ten or fifteen but if you have somewhere you need to be today you can take it off sooner. Have a little wander around the shop while I take care of that,” she gestured to the register, “and then we can take it off, yeah?”

Harry smiled and Louis darted off to take care of the huge basket waiting for her.

A few minutes later she’d finally managed to get everything bagged and totalled up, and once the sharply-dressed woman had tapped her card Louis was free to run back to Harry like a moth drawn to flame.

When she got back to the little demo table Harry had already removed the mask, droplets of water clinging to her skin like little translucent pearls. Louis felt a stab of panic as the girl stood up from the chair and made to pick up her bag. Somehow, she just couldn’t help but fumble for an excuse to make her stay longer.

“Sit back down, Harry, we’re not done yet!” she exclaimed, quickly scanning the shelves for something else to put on her.

Perhaps sensing her desperation, it was at that moment that Liam swept past, whispering into Louis’ ear, “toner and moisturiser.”

Panic subsiding, but heart still racing, she stood high on her tiptoes to grab two tester bottles from the shelves. Uncapping the first, she stood firmly in front of Harry and took a deep breath.

“Alright, close your eyes for me, love.”

Harry’s eyelids slid shut, head tilting upwards expectantly. Louis had to practically drag her own eyes away from the pair of lips being presented like an offering.

Louis spritzed her face dutifully, noting how she’d barely flinched at the sudden cool sensation.

“This one’s Eau Roma, it’s a toner water that just gives you a little extra hydration. The florals in there are um, really balancing for the skin,” Louis explained. “And I’ll get you to just pop on a bit of this one…”

She squeezed a little dollop of moisturiser onto Harry’s finger and motioned for her to apply it herself.

“S’called Celestial. It’s our lightest moisturiser, so it’ll settle into your skin quickly and it won’t make you greasy. Not that I think your skin is greasy,” she fumbled. “H-how does that feel?”

Harry beamed. “I feel _sublime,_ thank you Louis. Never been pampered by anyone so attentively.”

In her peripheral vision, Louis noticed Liam giving her an emphatic thumbs up, raising his eyebrows to prompt her to finish up.

“So, um, did you want to grab any of that today?”

“Oh, I’ll _definitely_ have one of the masks, and my sister asked me to pick up some…” Harry scans the shelf, then reaches out to grab a little pot. “Ultrabland! Just these ones, please.”

Overwhelmed by the extended proximity and Harry’s unrelenting gaze, Louis gave her a shaky smile and motioned to the register.

“Great, if you’ll just wait there someone will pop you through in a minute. I’ve got to go on my break, but I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Thank you, Louis,” she called as Louis started walking away.

Louis turned over her shoulder to steal one last look, Harry’s fingertips fluttering in a little wave. Her legs felt like half-set jelly.

Louis practically kicked the break room door open in her need for respite. When her break was over, Harry was gone.

. . . . .

A few days later, the store was fully decked out for Christmas - colourful gift boxes lining the tops of every shelf, focus areas tastefully highlighting the best of the Christmas exclusives, bath table absolutely full to the brim with trays of carefully merchandised bath bomb pyramids and stacks of festive bubble bars.

Unfortunately for Louis, the store was also fully packed with customers, all clamouring for help with inane questions like “Are these soaps?” (“No, they’re bath bombs, ma’am”), “Do you do specials?” (“No, everything is always full price, sir”), or, Louis’ favourite, “So what’s shower gel?”

Only five hours into her eight hour shift, Louis was about ready to collapse in exhaustion, wiping the sweat from her brow as she shoved the last box of bath bombs back into the cupboard after a thorough and fast-paced top-up.

Naturally it was then, with her fringe plastered to her forehead and cheeks flushed with exertion, that Louis turned and came face-to-face with Harry, immaculate as always.

“Harry,” she breathed out. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Harry grinned and twirled a lock of chestnut hair around her finger from where it was secured in two loose pigtails, spilling artfully over her Fair Isle-knit jumper. She shuffled her feet and Louis caught a glimpse of her wine-red Doc Martens peeking out under a mid-calf cord skirt.

“Um, I know you’re busy today, but…” Harry started, then seemingly lost her train of thought.

Louis cocked her head to one side, pointedly ignoring the swathes of other customers that were trying to get in her line of vision.

“I was thinking of getting some…bath bombs? For my sister,” Harry said haltingly. “Yeah.”

“Sure, love - now, did you need recommendations or are you happy if I just give you a basket and let you follow your nose?”

“Um, I’ll see how I go. Thank you, Louis,” Harry smiled, seeming a little distracted.

Louis mourned the opportunity to talk to her again, but her duty won out as she trudged over to open a second register and relieve some of the crowd’s pressure.

In the constant repetitions of calling up the next person waiting, unloading their baskets, wrapping each bath bomb, printing out the little ingredients stickers to seal them, typing all the codes into the computer and prompting everyone to please tap the _correct_ part of the card scanner, Louis almost didn’t notice when Harry joined the queue - but before long, she was standing in front of her again, only a big wooden table separating them.

Louis felt her face light up.

“What did we choose, in the end?” she asked, peering into the girl’s basket piled high.

She wrapped each one with extra care, sneaking glances at Harry’s face. The girl was flicking her own eyes away, then back to Louis every few seconds, biting her lower lip, eyes deep in thought - or nerves?

“So that’s um, 42 pounds fifty, is that cash or card?”

“Card, please,” Harry answered quickly.

Louis made to pass the bag over, but Harry suddenly locked eyes with her, a determined expression suddenly overtaking her face.

“What time do you get off?”

Louis blinked.

“Finish, I mean, um - what time does your shift finish?” Harry corrected herself, flustered.

Cheeks heating up, Louis’s head spun.

“Um, I think eight? ‘Bout three hours from now?”

Harry nodded and started to turn away.

“Harry, wait! Why’d you ask?” Louis called.

The girl just shot her a cheeky grin. “Not telling!”

Not for the first time, the thudding in Louis’ heart as the girl swept out of the shop had nothing to do with the adrenaline of a busy day.

. . . . .

“Night Liam, have fun closing,” Louis called as she lugged her bag towards the door, stuffing her apron in and trying in vain to dust off some of the stubborn glitter flecks that had embedded themselves in the fibres of her black t-shirt.

She pushed the door open with a huff and pulled out her phone, only to be brought to a stop by the sight of someone leaning against the brick wall a few paces down.

“You know, when I asked what time you finished I assumed you’d be out _at_ eight, not five minutes past,” Harry said with a crooked grin, a steaming travel cup held in each of her hands.

“Harry,” Louis blinked, dumbfounded. “I didn’t think you’d actually wait for me.”

She drew closer and Harry held out one of the cups to her, which she accepted with grateful hands cupped around the warmth.

“It’s gingerbread chai, didn’t know what you’d like so I just went festive.”

Louis took a sip, savouring the sweet spiciness that exploded on her tongue. She let out a little noise of approval.

“I, um, wanted to talk to you today, but it was so busy…” Harry trailed off, eyes darting away.

“Hah, yeah, according to Liam it’ll only get worse from here on. He says the customers reach a whole other level of crazy once it hits December first - ”

“Louis!” Harry interrupted, smiling. “I don’t care about the customers. I’m here because I wanted to ask you out.”

Louis might have been dying. Or hallucinating. Or whatever the auditory equivalent of hallucinating was.

“Wait, what? Oh my god,” she said, brain-to-mouth filter completely absent.

Harry’s face fell, the light in her eyes dimming a little.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I misread this, didn’t I?” she said, a little bashful. “I just - I thought - ”

Louis was quick to cut her off, hands flying reassuringly to her shoulders as she dropped her half-empty chai carelessly on the ground.

“No! No, you didn’t - um, you didn’t misread anything. I’d love to go out with you. I don’t know if you noticed, but I nearly _died_ having to do those demos on you.”

Harry’s expression brightened, tense posture loosening once more, and Louis said a prayer of thanks and reverence for the dimple that finally reappeared on her cheek.

“Really? I thought I was being so obvious, coming back just so I could get you to touch me again,” Harry admitted.

Louis giggled and slid one hand up to rest at the nape of Harry’s neck, the other moving to rest at the dip of her waist as the girl rested her weight back against the brick wall. She leaned in slightly, flicked her eyes down to Harry’s plush pink lips.

“I know we haven’t had our first date yet, but can I kiss you, Harry?” she murmured.

Harry responded by eagerly fitting their lips together and tangling her free hand in Louis’ choppy pixie cut. The kiss was relatively chaste, but immediately Louis’ senses were filled with cinnamon and cardamom and cloves and _Harry_.

Louis rested her forehead against Harry’s as green eyes met blue, and their lips slowly parted from their lingering contact. The stillness of the moment was broken as Louis huffed out a chuckle and bent down, picking up her abandoned drink from the cobblestones.

“Guess there’s no point me finishing this now,” she winced, tossing it towards a nearby bin.

A warm hand slid into hers, long fingers encompassing hers as Harry interlaced them.

Louis looked up and shared a nervous smile with Harry, heart fluttering.

“Will you let me walk you home?” Harry asked, expression shy as if there could ever be another answer.

Louis just gripped her hand tighter and motioned back in the opposite direction.

As they turned and walked together, powdered snow began to dust the quiet street in white, and Louis barked out a laugh as she was struck by a sudden thought.

Maybe those work-mandated arm massages weren’t so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> so now that authors have been revealed...
> 
> hi!! i gotta admit most of the energy i had for writing this was entirely because whenever work got quiet i'd be just standing there thinking about the potential for a lush au that's a true and accurate reflection of what it's like to work there (and to thirst after beautiful strangers on the job)... sadly i have never encountered my own harry but you know, it is what it is
> 
> comments/kudos/reblogs of the [fic post](https://cherrylouvol6.tumblr.com/post/639324437534162944/ill-take-care-that-no-illusions-shatter) are always cherished !! !!!!


End file.
